Oradour sur Glane

We had a trip down to Limoges to pick my mum and dad up from the airport. I hadn’t quite appreciated how pretty the Vienne department is – we will most definitely be going back to visit some of the pretty villages and châteaux we saw, as well as the beautiful rivers. We tend to automatically think of visiting places to the north – the châteaux of the Loire for example – but I think some of the more off-the-beaten-track places have just as much to offer (and fewer tourists into the bargain!). We also stopped off on the way at a place called Oradour sur Glane. This was the site of a massacre by Nazi troops in 1944, killing 642 people and wiping out the village. The village has been kept as a memorial, untouched since the war…

It was a fascinating, sobering and moving experience. One of those places you do not particularly enjoy – but has to be visited. We must never forget…